


Stars, Sanghelios, and Horseshoe Crabs

by PolyPairings



Series: The Arbiter, The Medic, and Inter-Species Relationships [6]
Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Arbiter x Reader, Cuddling & Snuggling, Elites | Sangheili - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, I Had To Do So Much Research, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Happy With This Tho, It's 3am But I was In A Groove, No Beta - We Die Like Badasses, Other, Sanghelios, Sappy, Simulation, Star-Watching, Thel ‘Vadam x Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolyPairings/pseuds/PolyPairings
Summary: The first date that's chosen by Arbiter! This gets a bit angsty and sad, but it gets better! I promise lots of cuddles and maybe some smooching. Enjoy!
Relationships: Thel 'Vadam | The Arbiter/Reader
Series: The Arbiter, The Medic, and Inter-Species Relationships [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615108
Comments: 18
Kudos: 43





	Stars, Sanghelios, and Horseshoe Crabs

**Author's Note:**

> A big thanks and shoutout to [Arbitha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbitha) for the date idea! They also have their own story where they explore Halo lore, so go check it out if you'd like!
> 
> Also, see if you can find the new pet name that I will be using (if I remember to). It's pretty obvious, I think.

_Thursday, July 29, 2556_

As usual, the Arbiter - Thel - picks you up near the end of your shift. There's no bandages to change, as the wounds he's had have all either healed, or been healed enough to be open to the air. Sill, you'd like to make sure they're healing well, and Thel admitted that it is a good excuse to see you almost every day. Since he's pretty much back at 100%, he rarely brings Khova and N'thito around with him anymore, for appearance and status. Having them around all the time could make him seem weak or fearful, even on a ship with 17,000 Humans. Even factoring in the 24 permanantly-stationed Swords of Sanghelios, and the 13 others he brought with him, he'd be ridiculously outnumbered if Humanity decided to turn hostile. He's faced worse odds, but everyone did, with the Flood.

Thel's wearing a nice tunic and pants today, and a dark grey cloak, but he isn't wearing it to hide an injury this time. You feel a bit drab in your scrubs, bloody ones at that. There were a few more dangerous missions today, which came with its fair amount of injuries. You'd heard even some Spartans had gotten injured, a few KIA, but that's Spartan Town business. Everything on the S-Deck is bigger than elsewhere on the ship, including their medbay. You've not worked on a Spartan since the heavily-classified surgery you took part in. You were offered a position there, but you'd refused it. There may be dozens of regular medbays scattered about the ship for convenience, and only one Spartan medbay, but you're fine where you are.

You're closer to your quarters, too. Which is where you request to go to with Thel. You've scrubbed the blood of your skin with strong, alcohol-based soap, but you can't do anything about your clothes. Thankfully, medical personnel get weekly laundry done, so you'll have fresh scrubs delivered on Sunday, three days from now. Additionally, Thel told you that where you were going would be very hot and bright, but chilly later. Which was very confusing and extremely specific information. You'd asked where you were going, but Thel requested to keep it a secret for a little while longer, so as not to spoil the surprise.

Thel waits outside your room patiently while you change. Breathable pants and a t-shirt, topped with a light jacket and sunglasses in your pocket. You wear the jacket right off the bat, since the _Infinity_ is kept at a cooler rather than warmer temperature. You briefly consider popping a caffeine pill since you're so tired, but decide against it. Thel seems slightly worried at the number of times you yawn on the way to wherever you're going.

"Are you alright? I do not mind doing this at a later date," he asks.

"No, I-," you start as you're cut off by yet another yawn. You blink rapidly for a second to refocus your eyes. Thel slows the pace you're walking at, and looks at you, concerned. You reach up and pat his arm that's linked with yours with your other hand to reassure him.

"I'm just tired, Thel. I'm usually tired after a shift like that, I'll be okay after we've been moving for a bit," you assure while smiling at him.

"Is that what that means? You are not ill?"

"No, I'm not. Yawning is just something Humans do when we're tired," you explain. You carefully do not say that humans also yawn from lack of oxygen, which can happen from slower breathing while tired or bored. Best not to freak him out.

"Ah, I understand." He nods, and picks up the pace again.

Now that you're actually paying attention and not lost in a tired haze, you notice you're in a hallway surrounded by rooms to labs. After seeing the letters and numbers stamped on a pillar, you realize you're in one of the Research and Development halls, on one of the many science floors. Your confusion returns, and increases when you reach the end of the hall; three surprisingly large doors set a good distance apart. Thel leads you to the one on the far left, marked as 'SMR1', and pauses. It's a simulation room.

"Let me know if you get too hot, or cold, as soon as you feel so. I have read that that it is very bad for Humans to stay in such an environment for a long time when they are unprepared.”

"Okay..." you confirm, still confused.

Satisfied, Thel opens the door, and you shield your eyes from the bright light that immediately assaults them. You blink them clear, and pull your sunglasses out of your pocket and slip them on. Once you're settled, Thel puts a hand between your shoulder blades and guides you into the room. 

The air is dry, and any breeze upon it is hot. Gritty, pored rock scuffs underneath your feet, smoothed by wind and sand in some locations. Looking up at the sky, you notice two suns, one further down the horizon than the other. You spin in a slow circle, taking in the sky. Fluffy clouds, light gray in color, dot the sky in clumps. There's a large moon, just peeking over the horizon, partially covered by clouds. A much smaller moon is situated a ways away from it. There's shadow on its surface, making a crescent of light amongst the darker part of it. Once you're done taking in the sky, you look elsewhere.

Thel closes the door, which leaves no trace in the environment. He watches you explore with a gentle smile in his eyes and warm fondness in his hearts.

You're on the top of a mesa, one of several you can see around you. They all share the same russet base color, some pinker or redder than the rest. You can see something else in the distance, with harsher angles and more straight lines, indicating it's hand-built, but you can't tell what it is. You turn and walk carefully to the other edge while taking off your jacket and tying it around your waist, small patches of sand blown by the wind crunching under your feet. You inhale in a small gasp as you see the nearer attraction.

Huge, pillar-like statues of Sangheili are carved into the rock, seemingly holding it up. They wear no clothing or armor, and their muscles and limbs are detailed. Walls with geometric shapes have been chiseled and smoothed into the stone between and beneath them. Squinting, you can see smaller statues dispersed on the sides of arches and doorways. These also wear nothing, but each one holds an energy sword, its points in the ground, both hands sitting regally on the hilt. They stand with their knees bent, ready to spring up and into battle. You turn to where you heard Thel approach you after you've gotten an eyeful.

"It's beautiful." You look back to the scene around you. "This whole place is beautiful."

Thel comes up next to you, leaning down to brush your hand and take it when you offer it to him.

"Welcome to Sanghelios," he says softly. "I had the construct you call Roland access cameras and satellites to create this." He looks out on the surroundings with you.

"Will you tell me about this place?"

He looks down and gives you a Sangheili smile, happy that you're interested.

"That is Qikost, one of our moons," he begins as he points at it with his free hand. "The smaller moon is Suban. Many of my people fled to them during the Blooding Years, our civil war. They are slowly returning, now that there is general peace amongst the Keeps."

He carefully turns you both around to face the suns. "Fied has already set for the day. Joori is setting now," he gestures to it with his free hand, and he's right. There are streaks of orange and pink in the strong yellow-white light from the last sun. 

"Urs will set last. It is what Sanghelios itself orbits. Urs is named after one of our old gods, from before the Covenant."

His mood darkens a bit. "We abandoned our old gods, but they have not been forgotten. A traditional way we say goodbye is: Until we meet again in Urs' everlasting light."

"Until we meet again in Urs' everlasting light," you murmur to yourself to remember it. "What about that temple?"

You both turn back to it, and he seems somewhat saddened. "The name of it has been lost. We lost much of our culture at the Covenant's hands." You squeeze his hand in comfort.

He blinks, and turns to the building in the distance that you saw. "That is Vadam Keep. My home. I found this spot when I was younger, training and hunting."

"Did you bring any of your friends out here?"

"No." He becomes pensive, solemn. He doesn't say anything more, and you don't push. He unclasps his cloak and spreads it on the ground. He sits, and you join him. Your leg touches his, and you reach over and bring one of his hands in your lap to hold. You idly watch Joori set, its colored light fading. Urs slowly follows it, sinking closer to the horizon.

"You have noted before, how my people's culture and society were so changed by the Covenant. What do know of the treatment of our younglings?"

You hum. "Not much," you admit. "I know that no son is told who their father is, so they're treated equally, and that all the children are raised in a communal setting. I've also heard that baby Sangheili are placed in incubators once they've hatched, but I haven't seen definitive proof of that."

Thel nods. "You are correct." He turns back to the view, his eyes on his Keep.

"I did not bring any friends up here because I did not have any, not truly. The Covenant had our whole society devoted to war, moreso than it was originally. My life was a competition since I was free from my tube. We were constantly compared to each other, constantly had our flaws pointed out. The only love we experienced was from whatever a few carers managed to sneak past the rest. I was ambitious. I pushed myself, changed myself over and over for hollow praise from bitter masters. My life was a cycle of this and lies. I only awoke to the true nature of my treatment when I fell from grace."

He brushes his free hand over his, where his brand is. His amber eyes go unfocused into a thousand-yard stare. Taking a small risk, you lean over and place your hand on top of the one on his chest.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Thel."

He blinks, jolted out of his flashbacks. He leans into you and sighs.

"Thank you." You both stay like that for a little while, Thel drawing comfort from you. Eventually he straightens a bit, and you let your hand fall from the one his chest to the one in your lap. He forces the hand over his brand back to his side.

"It was the Spartan who helped me the most. Your Master Chief," he confesses. "Sangheili have always believed Humans to be brave and honorable. He was both, and he showed me kindness when none other did, even though we had been enemies mere days ago. I learned many important lessons in life from him." He leans a bit more towards you. "I am learning things from you, too."

"Are they good lessons?"

"Yes," he asserts without hesitation.

You smile at him as fondness fills you. You have him lean down, and give him a kiss on his cheek once he consents to it. This warms his hearts and feels much better.

You watch the now setting Urs, its harsh regular white-yellow light turning into a prism of softer pinks, golds, and oranges.

After a while, Thel speaks up again. "I have told you of my childhood. Are you comfortable telling me of yours?"

You hesitate, but decide you can get through it with his support. So you tell him. Of your family and house. The pets you had or wished you had. Ichul**, the city on Skopje you lived in, was smaller than most of the others on the planet. While those worked with shipbuilding, yours was nearby the ocean. The planet had an abundance of horseshoe crabs, and their blood is extremely useful in healthcare. The main export of Ichul was the crabs' blue blood. There were some farms, too, further inland, to make up for the distance from the other highly populated cities.

"I think that's what really inspired me to get into medicine," you reveal. "Horseshoe crab blood is used to ensure that anything that gets injected or implanted into the human body is free of potential bacterial contamination." You're a bit sad thinking about your family, but his comforting hold and warmth pressed into your side helps you.

"I went to general university in one of the bigger cities on Skopje, then I went to a specialized one on Miridem. Miridem University of Medicine and Medical Technology. I graduated with great grades and good friends. I went home to celebrate with my family on the 6th of May, 2544." You frown, then, and your eyes are the ones to go distant this time. "Miridem was invaded the very next day."

Thel doesn't need to ask who it was invaded by.

You fiddle with his hand in your lap. "They managed to hold out for 12 days. Enough to get 56% of the planet evacuated. Not long enough to save the university. Or most of my friends." You take a shuddering breath, and lean into Thel's side more tightly. He carefully extracts the hand in your lap to wrap around you, and gives you his free hand to hold.

"The glassing was finished in early June. I spent months grieving. My parents didn't want me to go to any of their funerals, didn’t want me to leave the planet again. They were afraid. If I had stayed just one more day..." Your voice trails off. You shudder, and Thel tightens his arm around you to try to comfort you. You take a few deep breaths, then continue.

"I didn't argue," you say hoarsely. You cough to clear your throat, and start again. “I enlisted in the UNSC on the 6th of January, 2545. I wanted to enlist sooner, but my family wanted me to stay for the rest of the year's holidays. Was made an officer right of the bat, because of my education."

You shift a bit, before leaning your head onto Thel's side. "I fought for two years, got promoted. Missed the winter holidays in '46. I was going to go home and visit in March of '47. And then-" Your voice breaks. You breathe harshly a few times.

"You don't have to continue," Thel says quietly, gently. He bends his head down and kisses you on the top of your head.

"No, no, I want to," you say. "I've never told anyone the whole story before, I feel like I should. I heard it can help, having someone to listen to you."

"It does," he confirms. There are conflicted feelings floating in his chest. Sorrow for you, anger at the Covenant and its lies, anger at himself and his people for believing them. Shame for believing, guilt for doing all he did to the Humans. There's also a small part of him that fights back against most of those, a part you planted the seeds for. This part rails against the guilt and shame, tells him to forgive himself, as you want him to, as you already have. It's not big enough, but it will blossom in time, with your help. Thel takes these feelings and does his best not to let them affect him. You helped him, and he will help you by listening to you, even though it hurts to hear of what he and his people have done to innocents.

You snuggle into him further. Take a breath. Let it out.

"Skopje was invaded on the 5th of February," you continue. Your voice is hollow. "The UNSC fought to keep it for almost a month. I couldn't, I was stationed elsewhere. The Covenant knew about the shipbuilding yards, wanted to destroy them."

Thel is, quietly and deep down, grateful that you don't ever use the word 'you'. He was not at Skopje, or Miridem, but he was part of the Covenant. He doesn't think he'd be able to handle the guilt if you'd said 'you' or 'you all' instead of 'the Covenant'.

"We tried, but we couldn't hold it." Tears form in your eyes. "We just couldn't." You squeeze your eyes shut as anger fills your voice. It's a defense mechanism, a bad habit, to get angry instead of sad, but you don't care. "Ichul was glassed two days into the invasion. Why? It wasn't special, they didn't build ships. They were harmless."

You remove your hands from his and clench them hard enough to shake. "67%," you spit. "They managed to save 67% of the planet. I know that a lot of glassed planets end up with less than that, but it just doesn't seem fair." Thel puts his hand gently on top of your clenched ones and you sigh. You peel your hands open for him to hold and sag against him. You open your eyes and glare halfheartedly at the sunset. "If that one Corvette hadn't landed in that one spot, my family could have been saved. Small, out of the way, the Covenant would've ignored it for a while."

Thel strokes the top on one of your hands with one of his thumbs, a silent supporter. You sit there and breathe a while, watching as the sky darkens. You untie your jacket from your waist and extricate yourself from Thel long enough to put it on and shove your sunglasses into your pocket, before nudging back under his arm and cuddling up into him. You know the desert gets cold after the sun goes down.

"I am sorry," he says, after a while. "Are you alright?"

You smile weakly and tiredly at his concern. "I'm okay, Thel. Thank you."

"Would you like to leave, or do one last thing?"

"What's that one thing?"

"Look up."

You look up, and realize the stars have come out. There's thousands of them. You hum in appreciation, and crane your neck to look around at them. Qikost is bright still, but it doesn't overpower the stars.

"Stars don't twinkle in space, you know. There's no atmosphere to make them do so," you note. You can see plenty of stars from the Infinity, but it's just not the same as looking at them from a planet.

"What do stars mean, in Human culture?"

"Off the top of my head? Well, some people wish on them. It gives them faith that their dreams might come true."

"They stand for faith, then?"

"I suppose so."

"You are like a star then," Thel proclaims.

You nudge him for being cheesy. "Why do you say that?"

"You give me faith. In Humanity, the Sangheili, the future." He pauses. "Myself."

You look up at him to see if he's serious, and he is. 

"You sap," you chuckle. "Come here." You reach up to put your hands on either side of his face, and he goes willingly. You have to lean up, and he down, but you make it work.

Thel decides he rather likes kissing you.

**Author's Note:**

> *I could not find the orbital period for any of the stars or moons of the Urs–Fied–Joori system, the star system Sanghelios is in. Since Sanghelios itself orbit Urs, I'd figured that would be visible. Given that there's three stars, and that days on Sanghelios are 29.5 hours, then it would be reasonable for the stars to all be out of view at one time. Also, since there's three, nights on Sanghelios would obviously be shorter than nights on Earth, at least proportionally, so the faster transition between day and night is possible.
> 
> Ya know, maybe it would be easier to just explain that I took an astronomy class last semester, which is why I can make educated guesses as to what eactly would be in the sky, and what kinds of phases the moons have/their locations. We know next to nothing about the Urs-Fied-Joori system, so this is all conjecture, or based off of Halo 5 missions/concept art.
> 
> **Completely made up city. This does not actually exist on Skopje.
> 
> I yawned so many times while writing that one section. Apologies if I made you yawn a bunch too.


End file.
